I want to broach a subject that my followers have disagreed with me on before: feminism. I think feminism is important for both men and woman, but let me be clear what I mean by feminism. By feminism, I mean the equality of the genders, and the empowerment of the genders. When I talk about feminism, I do not mean hating men is acceptable, nor do I believe in the primacy of women. I believe feminism is important for cis women, cis men, and the trans community.

First, feminism is important for women. Women in western society truly do have some of the best statuses in the world, and yes, of course I care and am upset more about some of things going on in other parts of the world. Still, that doesn’t negate the fact that there are certain aspects in western society where women are not given equal status. For example, women are often seen as mere sex objects, and their attractiveness is often evaluated before their mental capabilities and accomplishments.

Secondly, feminism is important for men. I would truly like to live in a world where men, and particularly little boys, are not shamed for crying or being emotional. I want to live in a world where if a man likes something that is perceived as feminine he is not considered less of a man. I would like men to be able to just be comfortable being themselves instead of having to worry about how they will be evaluated on the “manly spectrum.”

Thirdly, feminism is important for the trans community. Transgendered people need to be uplifted to just be themselves. In this way, they should not feel the need to box themselves into mere gender stereotypes. A trans man can still be emotional, and a trans female can still be a tomboy.

Finally, I have a lot of thoughts on feminism and gender, and I have barely touched the subject. Perhaps, there will be more posts. In any case, some strands of feminism can be toxic, but I am asking my readers to think critically before throwing out the baby with the bath water. I am asking my readers to think critically and deeply about prejudice in society. I don’t think, personally, that there are no innate gender, but many of them aren’t. I think we do mistreat each other, and I want us to work to stop this silly behavior.

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“By feminism, I mean the equality of the genders, and the empowerment of the genders. ”

You can do this without feminism. Feminism is more than just a dictionary definition. It’s a movement.

The very word fem-inism is telling you it’s not about equality or about males at all.

“Still, that doesn’t negate the fact that there are certain aspects in western society where women are not given equal status. ”

So are men, such as getting longer prison sentences for the same crime, being blamed by every woman (and man) who buys into the patriarchy hypothesis, higher suicide rates etc.

“For example, women are often seen as mere sex objects, and their attractiveness is often evaluated before their mental capabilities and accomplishments.”

So are men sometimes. Do you really think this is a one way street?

Often, other women are the ones doing the judging.

“Secondly, feminism is important for men. I would truly like to live in a world where men, and particularly little boys, are not shamed for crying or being emotional.”

So many feminists bring this up as their first concern. While I’d like to see this as well, the soaring suicide rate, for example, is something I’m much more concerned about. The idea that all men are oppressors is something that concerns me far more than whether I’m taught that crying isn’t going to solve my problems, which is true in the vast majority of cases.

“Transgendered people need to be uplifted to just be themselves. In this way, they should not feel the need to box themselves into mere gender stereotypes. A trans man can still be emotional, and a trans female can still be a tomboy.”

Yes and there is no law preventing this. You can champion this cause without feminism, and there is a whole segment of feminism that doesn’t like trans people.

” I am asking my readers to think critically and deeply about prejudice in society.”

I am, which is why I don’t subscribe to the prejudicial doctrine of feminism and prefer to just be for equality no matter the sex, sexual orientation or race of the individual.

Then call gender equality whatever you would like. There was a reason I was very particular about saying what I meant when I used the term feminism, and why I said it did not include hating men.

I am just as concerned as you are about the issues you brought up regarding men. The reason I brought up crying and emotional suppression of men first is due to the fact that I am reading up a lot on gender roles lately. My mind just kind of went there. Although by the way, the suppression of emotions can in fact cause harm even if only psychological. That’s just a fact of psychology.

As for your comments on the trans and the rest of the comments, that was my reason for saying there strands of feminism that are indeed toxic, and I don’t for a minute deny that.

This why I defined feminism so narrowly when I started my blog as equality and non-man-hating. I think my issue with not just using the word equality is, well, the internet. It is full of people who, because of their seemingly blind hatred of feminism, won’t admit that there are legitimate issues, dealing with gender, that need to be addressed. I’ve seen vlogers use the words “tranny” and “c*nt” just to make a point. I’ve witnessed similar situations in real life.

Secondly, there are still feminist that agree with explanation of feminism. Although, I would agree with you that there many strands of feminism that seem to have run amuck. Still, I’m in the midst of an experiment where I’ll be dealing with real life academic feminists, and see if it can in fact be saved.

When feminists start mentioning the negative traits more prominent in women than men, and attempting to sway the female community away from that behavior, then I can start trying to take them seriously. Til then, they’re sadly just reinforcing and enabling allot of negative female stereotypes.

feminism has an egalitarian side which (is real but) is used for its public relations: “feminism is for everyone” and it has a very broad, very vocal misandrous side that it generally claims doesnt exist, which turns every single argument into something against men: “oh, men are talking? well men always get a say. so when they have a problem with anything we do, they should just stfu about it.” no reasonable movement is going to end dialogue and call it “progress.”

but its not like this is only aimed at men– its aimed at any female voice that dissents. people arent just rejecting feminism on philosophical grounds or misunderstandings, theyre trying to maintain a reasonable distance from it because theyve been attacked too many times already. humanism is a “safe space” for people that tried feminism and found it wanting. just do an image search for “misandry doesnt exist” …how far do i have to stay away from all that to not plunge my life into chaos? i already stay away from most “open source” related events because of the thought-policing and moral-policing there.